Collaborative Effort: final fence plan for Mar Vista Soccer Field

Here it is:

the site plan presented February 26, 2008

The proposed fence will be pushed out AROUND the bleachers on three sides.

Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks personnel present indicated they would willingly work with the community to maintain public walk on access to the field when it is not booked by groups.

That means noon pick-up games will continue, as they have for 20 years.

Thanks to everyone in Western Los Angeles soccer—AYSO, CSL club, adult players, park program moms, and local youth not for profit programs--who cared enough to attend hearings, circulate petitions [750 signatures and counting], and write emails. It IS hard to make time to participate in public forums…but just look what was accomplished.

Thanks to ALL my Mar Vista Community Council neighbors and colleagues for their wisdom on this issue.

Thanks to the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks for responding positively to community concerns with a redesigned plan.

And, thanks to Mayor Villaraigosa and Councilmember Rosendahl…and their tireless deputies who assisted so ably.

Finally:

After input received from the entire community last December, it only took one try [and less than four months] to come up with a consensus driven safe fence plan which addressed all concerns.

A powerful argument for transparent public process if ever there was one.

February 26, 2008 at 6:30 PM, Mar Vista Rec Center: Game On, Into Overtime

I want to highlight the importance of a strong public showing for the new LA Rec and Parks Superintendent in support of the Blueprint and safe fence layout.....game on, be there on the 26th!

At the private briefing meeting held for Superintendent Sophia Pina-Cortez last month regarding the soccer field fence, all community leaders in the room affirmed and verified their support of the MVCC Blueprint’s safe fence layout.

I detailed why public access policy, “walk on play”, is an important Mar Vista community value—as evidenced by the stack of petition forms totaling 500+ signatures from our adult and youth stakeholders which I presented to her at that same meeting.

Is there any reason why a parent and child should not be able to walk onto Mar Vista Soccer Field on a sunny morning, or at noon, and kick the ball around if the field is not permitted out to a group?

This shot was taken at one of the regular noon pickup games at the field.
Note the little boy [in the yellow t-shirt] playing with his parent.

Soccer is a family and community building sport.
It transcends generations.

So, is there any REAL reason to exclude groups of working adults, who come out to play pickup games before work on weekdays [an LAMC noise ordinance compliant activity, by the way] or at noon--as happens on any basketball court in this city?

When the people of the City of Los Angeles approved Proposition K [and this ball field was a specific project in that proposition], they never intended to block walk on public access to field spaces simply because surfaces changed from grass to plastic to stand up to more hours of play.

They never intended contract agreements with user groups to take precedence over public access.

They never intended the fencing of large OPEN portions of our public parks, shutting off public access to public amenities, and the enforcement of severely restricted hours at those amenities.

Given the trend towards synthetic turf, and given the approximately 22 independent schools [which will have little or no field space onsite] coming online in the western Los Angeles area over the next few years, preserving walk on public access to all our synthetic ball fields becomes critically important.

Good public policy.

Access for all our stakeholders.

Now.

Mayor's Day postponed due to weather

From the Mayor's office:

"Dear Community members,

Regretfully, we will have to postpone the Day of Service in Mar Vista, Del Rey and Venice on Saturday, January 26, 2008 until March 15, 2008. Due to the 70% chance of rain forecasted for this weekend, we will not be able to execute many of our painting, planting and cleaning projects.

Please reach out to your community and let them know that the Day of Service has been postponed!

We will be in touch shortly to arrange for the next planning committee meeting so that we can get ready for new date set for the Day of Service on Saturday, March 15, 2008."

Mayor's Day of Service, 2008, Mar Vista

"On Saturday, January 26, 2008, the Offices of Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa and Councilmember Bill Rosendahl will host the 2008 Day of Service at the Mar Vista Recreation Center and Park.

Residents in Mar Vista, Del Rey, Venice and the surrounding neighborhoods will join with community members to work together on more than 50 separate projects at 20 various locations to benefit the local neighborhoods.

The goal of the Day of Service is to address community needs, provide public education and strengthen community partnerships.

In keeping with the tradition of the Mayor’s many Days of Service, events taking place that weekend are free of charge for all participants.

Our goal is to involve 5,000 people in Mar Vista and its surrounding neighborhoods and grow their level of volunteerism throughout the year.

The Mar Vista Day of Service is not just about community service; it is about community building.

If you have any questions, please contact Stephen Cheung, in the Office of Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, at 310.479.3823 or via email at stephen.cheung@lacity.org."

This is a great way to give back to our parks and schools which nurture our kids and our sport!

I hope to see many of you there!

Christmas 2007

Best Wishes for a Joyous Holiday Season!

IMPORTANT: The Mar Vista Soccer Field fence re-design public hearing previously scheduled for Tuesday January 29, 2008 has been postponed due to a change in Los Angeles Rec and Parks Shoreline district management.

First post of 2008 will cover the details of that shift, and preparation for the upcoming public hearing in February 2008.

GAME ON!

‘The wisdom of crowds’

Report: Mar Vista Soccer Field public meeting, 12-3-2007:

A VERY big thanks to all of you who took the time to attend this pivotal public meeting, and a special shout out to Kathy, who generously translated for our Spanish speaking soccer stakeholders.

A packed room of community soccer field users finally were heard: AYSO youth soccer; club youth soccer; community service organizations; park soccer program moms; daytime MVCC stakeholder players; UCLA Student Housing residents; Archstone apartment dwellers; and concerned neighbors.

We all want SAFETY for our youth and adult soccer players at Mar Vista.

Park soccer program moms pointed out, logically enough, they NEED extra space to watch their toddlers while older children play. They don’t want to be forced outside a fence with limited access, next to a busy intersection. There are many parents with small children on the sidelines because the highly popular Mar Vista Rec Center soccer program uses the field space CROSSWAYS for more capacity.

Youth soccer representatives emphasized the importance of safe clearance for officials, players and parents. The field is used by local schools for training and CIF competitive games, not just neighborhood pickup games. Fifteen feet, the distance proposed by Rec and Parks from touchline to solid fence, is simply not safe.

About ‘overuse’ causing damage to the field: synthetic turf websites indicate these high tech fields are designed to sustain 12-14 hours of team play per day. Mar Vista Soccer Field use never approached that threshold even during the summer of 2005. There never was an 'invasion of hundreds.'

Real problem, according to the PAB minutes of October 16, 2007: field seams were not sewn AND glued: the preferred installation method for synthetic turf fabric durability.

The Park & Rec employee moderating the meeting stated several times that she must ‘listen MOST’ to adjacent residents.

While ‘good neighbor’ policies are appropriate, this approach potentially results in holding our KEY regional public sports field resources hostage to personal aesthetics. Probably not the sort of citywide precedent we want to set for our public sports fields in an increasingly dense Los Angeles.

Meeting participants suggested reducing fence costs by eliminating the expensive brown coating. The existing east side fence’ coating—the five foot fence—is already flaking off after short exposure to the elements; rendering it useless for sound reduction after only 24 months.

Speaking of muffling sound, I can’t find any municipal ordinance in the country regulating ‘soccer ball hitting chain link fence’ noise pollution.

You know, I imagine our Mar Vista Community stakeholders farther to the north, who DAILY suffer SIGNIFICANT noise and health impacts due to FAA sanction of big fat polluting jets at Santa Monica Airport, would have something to say about the absurdity of claiming a healthy active sports field is some kind of nuisance use, don’t you?

You don’t get cancer from sports fields.

NEXT STEPS: The Rec and Parks rep finally agreed, at the very end of the meeting to go back; get costs on various options for a safe fence.

There will be another public meeting after the holidays. Call it GAME ON: THE RETURN.

A preliminary date of Tuesday, January 29 at 6:30 pm at Mar Vista Rec Center Auditorium has been set to preview the reworked plans.

Please mark your calendars.

GAME ON!

GAME ON!

Important:

COMMUNITY HEARING ON THE MAR VISTA SOCCER FIELD FENCE TO TAKE PLACE MONDAY DECEMBER 3, 2007 AT 7PM, MAR VISTA REC CENTER

"Mukri said in an interview Friday that every council office has been informed of how much Quimby money it had and that it takes time to find effective ways to spend the money."[Los Angeles Times article, 10-20-2007 "Few parks, but L.A. is sitting on pile of green" by Steve Hymon]

We ALL invested months to find those ways, then LARAP changed the rules.

Our community consensus effort was red carded without any explanation on September 10th

On September 10th, Rec and Parks presentation of the proposed master plan for Mar Vista Rec Center was held.

It was billed as the first of two meetings for public comment.

“the Department of Recreation and Parks requires a community process and as part of that community process when presenting plans we never present them as Final plans, as this denotes meetings and decisions were made without the larger community having input… Once we present the concepts and receive input then final plans are developed."

The plan shown included a soccer field fence on the existing mow strip, a placement deemed too close to the touchline for the sideline safety of parents and players by youth soccer proponents. A couple of cut outs for bleachers and a small space on the Palms side of the field were also shown.

This layout represented a radical departure from the community driven compromise MVCC Blueprint Plan for the soccer field, which was worked out over several months by all parties, including residents who initially complained.

It's NOT about the money, either:

"...some council districts have significant sums of unspent money. Councilman Bill Rosendahl's district, on the city's far west side, has nearly $12 million yet to be earmarked." [Los Angeles Times article 10-20-2007 , "Few parks, but L.A. is sitting on pile of green" by Steve Hymon]

Yet, I and the audience were told by Rec and Parks staff there would be NO discussion allowed on fence placement and safety, or cost saving design alternatives. It was a 'done deal'; 'there is no Blueprint plan.'

Rec and Parks refused to receive any larger community input on fence location.

Mar Vista was silenced.


Call me crazy, but I found it unusual--and unacceptable--to be told by another City chartered entity that I, a duly elected, certified neighborhood council representative, could not ask questions about safe design at a public meeting about a major public works project at a public park within my community council's boundaries.

That's my job-to ask these questions on behalf of the stakeholders I represent and to get answers.

I drafted a resolution, and took the matter back through the Mar Vista Community Council Urban Planning/Land Use Committee, the Recreation and Open Space Enhancement Committee, and the full MVCC Board of Directors.

The Mar Vista community’s support for a compromise on safe soccer field fence placement and design was reaffirmed unanimously by the MVCC BOD.

I’ve asked the CD11 office to obtain both a copy of the September 10th soccer fence site plan and an advance copy of this ‘final’ PUBLICLY funded project proposed layout for a PUBLIC PROP K soccer field enclosure at a REGIONAL PUBLIC PARK.

I hope to post these plans here on my blog so you, the PUBLIC, can exercise your right & evaluate the proposed design of the soccer field fence for field utility and safety--the primary concerns of all of us who support youth soccer activities.

COME OUT ON MONDAY DECEMBER 3RD, 7 PM AND BE HEARD.

DON'T BE SILENCED.

GAME ON!

The MVCC resolution:

Whereas, the Mar Vista Community Council recognizes the significant community building and health benefits of recreation activities with regard to well being of Mar Vista stakeholders, and

Whereas, the Mar Vista Community Council recognizes Mar Vista Recreation Center as a key resource providing opportunities for these activities within MVCC boundaries,

Be It Resolved that the Mar Vista Community Council therefore re-affirms its support of its motion for a 3Blueprint for a Better Mar Vista Recreation Center and Parks that it passed March 13, 2007 as a compromise document between the various community groups with a strong stake in park usage.

Be It Also Resolved that the Board of Directors of the MVCC therefore asks the General Manager of the Department of Recreation and Parks and his team to work in cooperative partnership with the MVCC and the Mar Vista Community in order to better implement these community goals and objectives for the benefit of all Mar Vista Stakeholders.